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Need
The Need is a Japanese plate folder distributed by Eikōdō in the 1930s. It exists in size (6.5×9cm) and in size (4.5×6cm). Documents The Need is presented in an advertisement by Eikōdō, published at an unknown date. Advertisement reproduced in Morishita, p.70 of no.22. The camera is described as all-metal. The model is listed in five versions, supplied with three plate holders and one film pack holder: * double extension bellows, Vario shutter, Meyer f/4.5 lens, ¥35; * double extension bellows, Vario shutter, Meyer f/6.3 lens, ¥30; * single extension bellows, Vario shutter, Meyer f/4.5 lens, ¥30; * single extension bellows, Vario shutter, Meyer f/6.3 lens, ¥23; * simple Bulb and Instant shutter, simple lens, ¥15. The pictured camera has a dial-set Vario and probably an f/4.5 lens. The body has simple incurved struts, a brilliant finder offset to the left and a wireframe finder with a rectangular eyepiece. It seems that there is a focusing worm-screw on the photographer's right and a distance scale on the left, and the front standard perhaps allows vertical movements. In the same advertisement, the model is called Model A (A號), and is offered with a simple Bulb and Instant shutter and a simple lens only, at ¥8.50, including six plate holders. In the picture, the camera body looks like a down-sized version of the model. No focusing control is visible, and the camera is perhaps focused by moving the lens standard back and forth by hand. There is a brilliant finder but no wireframe finder, and it seems that no movement is available. The shutter plate has the name NEED inscribed at the top. The advertisement by Eikōdō in the June 1st, 1935 issue of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin says that it was the distributor of the Need cameras, with no more details. Advertisement reproduced on p.27 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. Surviving examples The only known surviving example is pictured in . Example pictured in , item 1212. It is in format, has a small focusing wheel on the photographer's right, a brilliant finder and a wireframe finder (whose front frame is missing), and no movement ability. The shutter is a dial-set Elka, giving 25, 50, 100, B, T speeds, and the lens is reported as a Steinheil Anastigmat Trionar 105mm f/6.3. Yazawa shows a Fuji Optische Werk Anastigmat Trionar 105mm f/6.3 and Elka-C shutter (10–150, B, T), reportedly coming from a Need. Yazawa, pp.10–1 of no.265. The shutter plate has ELKA–C at the bottom, Patent–Pending at the top and a TB logo on the right. The name "Fuji Optische Werk" certainly corresponds to Fuji Kōgaku, which maybe acquired the license of the Trionar lens to Steinheil, and maybe assembled the lenses from elements coming from Germany. The same source also shows a Steinheil Anastigmat Trionar 105mm f/6.3 and dial-set Elka, said to come from a Sun plate folder looking very much like the Need and probably related. Yazawa, pp.10–1 of no.265. Notes Bibliography * P.261. * Morishita Hajime (森下肇). "Atomu-han kamera no subete" (アトム判カメラのすべて, All of Atom-size cameras). Pp.55–70. * Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin (日本写真興業通信). Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku (百号ごと十回の記録, Ten records, every hundred issues). Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin Sha (日本写真興業通信社), 1967. No ISBN number. P.27, corresponding to p.9 of the June 1st, 1935 issue. * Item 1212. * Yazawa Seiichirō (矢沢征一郎). "Renzu no hanashi (175) Kubi no shūshū" (レンズの話175首の収集, Lens story 175 Collection of heads). In no.265 (July 1999). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.9–11. Category: Japanese 4.5x6 folding Category: Japanese 6.5x9 folding Category: N